The Two Who Lived
by blimeymione
Summary: What if there was a Girl Who Lived? What if she apparated into the trio's tent? What if she is exactly the person they need to help them defeat You Know Who? Rated M for lemons, some violence, some language. First story! Please read!
1. The Girl Who Lived

****This is my first fanfic ever! I tried to proofread for errors in the storyline and for grammatical/spelling errors and whatnot, so if theres anything wrong, sorry! Also, as we all know, J.K. Rowling owns all these amazing characters (except Ariel!) and the basic plotline. ****

**QUICK NOTE: I didn't like that Fred, Remus, Tonks, or Snape died, so I pretended like that didn't happen. I also changed the order of the horcrux destruction, threw in some lemons and angst, and all kinds of fun, different stuff. Hope you enjoy!**

I had been on the go for almost 4 weeks. 4 weeks since I wiped my parent's minds and planted the idea in their mind that they had to move to Hawaii. It still hurt to think about. I worried daily that when I was finally able to go find them and reinstate their memories, they would be furious over what I had done, how I had gone out on my own so the evil Dark Lord wouldn't try to harm them in any way, so he couldn't come look for me in the home I was sure he knew I occupied. If (or when) he or his band of terrible death eaters went to search my house, they would find no traces of me or my family. I tried to stay positive by telling myself I had done the right thing.

Before I had decided to distance myself from everyone I knew and loved, I confided in Bambino, the headmaster of my magic school, Salem Witches Institute, in Massachusetts. He seemed to know something I didn't but he never let on any information that I thought was of any particular use. For my journey, he had given me a spell book containing every known spell in the wizarding world, which contained a large section on dark magic; a deluminator, which as far as I could tell only turned off lights; and an extra wand in the event mine was stolen, broken, or otherwise damaged. The book had actually come in handy, and the extra wand was nice to have, but I felt like the deluminator was merely taking up space in my bag.

I was looking forward to taking my search up into wine country. The Napa Valley had always looked so beautiful and peaceful, and the day I apparated there, the sight took my breath away. After hiking around a seemingly deserted valley for about an hour, I settled into a slightly wooded area by a crystal clear brook. I quickly put up protective enchantments and set up camp by the water. A few hours later I was relaxing in my tent and lazily flicking through the spell book, looking for a random spell to cast. It was fairly silent other than the trickling water outside in the brook, and I was startled when I heard faint voices. I instantly panicked, even though I was sure my protective enchantments were fool proof. I grabbed my wand and peeked out the tent flap. It was virtually pitch black, and even after my eyes adjusted to the dark, I couldn't sense any movement anywhere. It was then that I realized the voices were coming from INSIDE the tent. Had I started to go mad from being alone for so long? Had no human contact caused me to conjure up voices? To test my sanity, I decided I could at least try to look for the source of the noise. I walked around the tent listening to inanimate objects and feeling like a total nutcase. When I came to where I had laid my bag earlier, I picked it up to get a sweater out because the tent was getting a bit chilly. To my astonishment, the voices were inside! I held it up to my ear to hear better.

"We need to find the other horcruxes! It's been weeks Harry!" A female's voice. Horcruxes?

I quickly opened the bag and stuck my arm down in to search around. Never had I disliked the undetectable extension charm more than that exact moment. I felt around until I felt something warm and slender. I pulled the object out. It was my deluminator, and it was glowing! Nervously I clicked the button, and an orange ball of light rose up out of the top. It hovered in the air for a minute before floating in to the center of my chest. A strange feeling washed over me; a sense of need, somewhere, by someone, for me. Somehow I knew that if I disapparated, I would end up where these voices were and they would be able to tell me what was going on. I packed up my tent in record time, threw my bag on my shoulder, and braced myself for disapparation.

I let out a nervous breath. "Here goes nothing," I muttered. The familiar squeeze-through-a-tube feeling swept over me. After a few seconds I was dropped on the ground. I stood up and dusted myself off as I examined my surroundings; I seemed to be inside someone's tent. As I turned around, I was met with three wands in my face mere inches from my nose. Two boys and one girl, all looking about my age, stood wide eyed and silent at me. I loosened my grip on my wand and dropped it to the ground. I raised both of my hands up to show I came in peace.

The girl picked up my wand. One of the boys, a tall, lanky, redhead with piercing blue eyes spoke first. "Who are you?" I opened my mouth to answer, but before I could get any words out, the girl spoke. "How did you apparate into our tent? The protective enchantments were like steel! What could I..." She trailed off, looking slightly defeated. Her voice sounded familiar. She must have been who I heard talking about horcruxes. She ran a hand through her already slightly disheveled hair. The redhead spoke again, "Well, get on with it, explain how you got here!" He seemed on edge. "I'll be more than happy to explain everything I am aware of if you would lower your wands out of my face!" I said crossly. The trio looked at me in astonishment. The boy who hadn't spoken yet lowered his wand first. "An American witch! How splendid!" he exclaimed, looking at the others. "Harry, you can't just let your guard down because she's an American!" the girl sighed, but lowered her wand. She took her hand and pushed down the wand of the redhead. I thought carefully before I began explaining.

"Well um.. I didn't expect to apparate right into a tent, I thought I'd have a few minutes to gather my thoughts before I found you". The girl opened her mouth to ask a question but I held up my hand to stop her. "Please, let me finish." The girl closed her mouth and I began again. "First off, I'm sure your protective enchantments are fine. I've been using them myself the last 4 or 5 weeks while I've been nomading around North America. I haven't had any troubles yet. I don't know your names, or how you would be connected to me, but I have a deluminator..." I trailed off for a minute while I pulled the deluminator out of my bag, "..and about 5 minutes before I got here, I heard voices. Two mumbely ones, and then one very clear female one talking about horcruxes. I don't know what a horcrux is, but I know I've been brought here for a reason. When I heard the voice and realized it was coming from this, I clicked the button and a really bright orange ball of light floated up from it, hovered in the air for a minute, and went into my chest. That's when I knew I had to apparate here. So I did." I stopped for a minute to see their reaction so far.

The redhead spoke, "That's how I got back here after I left you two. I heard Hermione's voice from the delimunator and the light went into my chest and I just knew where to go!" "All right, so you were transported here via delimunator instructions, like he did" gesturing to the red head, "but that doesn't tell us anything important, like who you are," the girl, Hermione, said. "My name is Ariel McGregor," I stated. The boy who had not spoken much covered his mouth in surprise. "But Ariel McGregor is the Girl Who Lived!" he said in utter astonishment. "Yes; and that's me." The trio all had the same expression on their faces. Each of their mouth's had formed an O. The girl regained her composure first. She began speaking, "The Girl Who Lived! Do you know who he is?" She gestured to the dark haired, green eyed boy with glasses. I shook my head. "This... is Harry Potter." I switched my gaze to the boy, who was still open mouthed in shock. Now it was my turn to be surprised. "Harry Potter?" I took a step closer to him. "The Boy Who Lived?" He nodded. The movement of his head caused his bangs to move just enough for me to notice his lightning bolt scar above his right eye. "I have the same scar," I said simply. He continued to stare. I looked back to the girl. "What are your names?" I inquired. "I'm Hermione Granger, and this is Ron Weasley," the girl replied, touching the redhead on his shoulder.

Ron broke through the polite introductions. "How do we know you really are the Girl Who Lived? Show us your scar!" he demanded. I drew my hair back over shoulder and leaned my head to the right. "It's right here," I said, pointing to the lightning bolt on the left side of my neck, just under my ear. "Well, there it is," said Ron. Hermione suddenly seemed to regain the ability to move and flung herself at me. "Umm.. thanks?" I said, confused at the sudden positive display of emotions from the girl who was sizing me up suspiciously not 10 minutes ago. The words began spilling out of her, "Oh you have no idea what we've been through! We've been hunting for horcruxes for weeks and Harry and Ron are my best friends in the WORLD but they're so daft sometimes!" The boys gave her a look. "All the professors had always talked about how there was an American witch who had also lived through an attack from you-know-who and now here you are! Please stay with us, please!" I wasn't sure how Hermione had gotten all of those words out without breathing, but I didn't question it. It would be nice to have some companions to talk to, even if I didn't know what was going on. "I'll stay, if Ron and Harry don't mind, of course," I responded. She looked at them. Ron looked over at Harry, exchanging a silent agreement that I could stay. Ron nodded. Harry stepped closer to me and reached out a hand to place on my shoulder, "Of course you can stay, we need all the help we can get." He smiled warmly at me. "Great. But can someone please tell me what a horcrux is? I'd like to know what I'm helping you do, exactly." Harry began a long explanation about the dark lord, how he split his soul into several parts, and that the items his pieces of soul occupied were horcruxes. To destroy the horcruxes is to destroy Voldemort himself. After nearly an hour of questions and answers between the three of them and me, I understood what needed to be done, and I affirmed the fact that I would stay to help.

A week went by and things seemed to be going smoothly. I was getting to know Hermione, Ron, and Harry, and I found it easy to join their group, like I had known them as long as they had known each other. Since there was now an even number, the usual night watch the three of them kept up bumped itself from each person doing individual shifts, to going out to watch in teams to keep each other company.

Another week had gone by, and I was sitting on a rock by a nearby creek. I had leaned back against a huge tree and stretched my legs out. Despite the hard surfaces I leaned on, I had become quite comfortable watching the little creek move swiftly. Ron and Hermione were having another fight about something trivial, and I had snuck out of the tent to escape the tension. I had been alone for nearly half an hour, the flowing water was the only sound I had heard in that time. A crackling of branches close by caused me to suck in a sharp breath. I whipped around with my wand raised to see Harry approaching. I immediately dropped my wand and let out a relieved sigh. "You scared me Harry," I said, sitting back down. "Not my intention, I promise", he replied, coming to sit next to me. "Ron and Hermione still going at it?" I asked. He chuckled. "Yep. Had to get out of there. They need their alone time." I nodded in agreement. We sat for a minute, watching the water flow quickly over the rocks and branches jutting up from the bottom. "I wish Ron and Hermione would just kiss already," I stated, breaking the silence. Harry seemed to chew on the thought for a moment. "It's hard to just snog someone without anything leading up to it though," Harry replied. "You can't just run up to a girl and expect her to be receptive." He had turned his body toward mine. "Well it's not like Hermione wouldn't want it. I've only been around you three for a few weeks and it's not like I haven't noticed how they are around each other. It almost hurts to watch them. Ron needs to grow a pair and man up! Just do it, you know?" I said. "Well, look at this this way," Harry started. "Imagine if someone just ran up to you and gave you a snog. You'd be surprised, right? Startled a bit?" "Well yeah, but -" Harry held up his hand, as if to silence me. I closed my mouth. "Now, pretend you're Hermione, and I'm Ron. What if I came up to you and said I had something to tell you. Say I stood very close to you-" Harry moved closer to me, putting a hand on the tree to support his weight. "And then I told you that I thought you were beautiful, that you were the most brilliant witch that I ever knew-" He leaned in even closer, "That I had wanted to be more than friends for a long time, and would it be alright if I kissed you?" Harry was whispering by now. I swallowed loudly. I tried to concentrate on the fact that this was a hypothetical situation involving other people. I was keenly aware of Harry's proximity to me, and how he wet his lips with his tongue as he waited for me to say something. I wanted badly for him to actually kiss me in that moment, and then I stopped myself. Was I developing a thing for Harry Potter? Harry was still speaking, which brought me back to what was happening in the real world. "It's all about delivery," he said simply, at regular volume. He pushed himself up off the rock using the tree. He motioned for me to get up. "They're most likely done fighting by now. Let's head back." I stood and followed him back to camp, where Hermione and Ron were not talking to each other at all.


	2. Destroying the Diadem

It had been nearly a month since that Ron/Hermione fight, and I was sitting against a fallen tree on a tarp with Hermione doing night watch. "So how long have you been into Ron?" I asked nonchalantly. Hermione's head snapped up from her sudoku puzzle. "I beg your pardon?" she retorted, obviously taken aback at my question. "You heard me. How long have you had a crush on him?" I gave her a knowing smile. She looked for a minute like she might try to argue that I was wrong, that she most certainly did not have feelings for that daft idiot Ronald Weasley, and then her face softened. She sighed. "Is it that obvious?" she asked. "So obvious," I replied. She sighed again. "If I'm being honest with myself, probably as long as I've known him." "Merlin Hermione!... And how long has he liked you?" She blinked. She thought for a minute. "I don't know that he does." she said sadly. "Really? You don't know that for sure." She gave a small smile. "Have you never talked to him about it?" "It's not that easy, he's my best friend. I can't just say 'Hey Ron, guess what? I've wanted to be with you for years, fancy a snog?' and then expect everything to be unicorns and rainbows!" she said, exasperated. I laughed. A sobered expression fell over her face. "I dream about what it would be like almost every night. Obviously it goes much more romantically in my head... it's kind of pathetic," she said with a half-smile. "I know just what you two need," I said smiling. "Oh, what's that?" she inquired. "A push in the right direction," I replied. "Harry has been pushing us for years! But Ron is so daft," she said laughing. "So why don't you make a move?" I asked. "Because I'm shy! What if he rejects me? What if he thinks of me like a sister? I'll ruin everything. I've built everything up my mind for so long.." Her face crumpled at her last sentence. "Hermione," I sat next to her and put a reassuring arm across her shoulder. "I've been with you guys for a little more than a month and I can already tell that's not true. You've just both kept your feelings to yourselves for far too long." She smiled at me as she wiped a stray tear from her cheek. She took a deep breath. "What about Harry?" she asked, changing the subject. "What about him?" I said in return. "What do you think about him?" she probed. I opened my mouth to answer her, but I couldn't think of anything noncommittal to say without letting on the truth; that I was beginning to fall for the Boy Who Lived. The look on my face must have given me away despite my efforts to pretend to be neutral about the topic, as if we were discussing the weather. "That's what I thought," she said knowingly, smiling to herself. I blushed slightly, and, still not saying anything, pretended to be thoroughly involved in my book.

The sun came up around 6:15 a.m., and Hermione and I stayed outside until 7 a.m. When we went back in the tent, we found the boys sleeping. "I'll wake up Ron and you wake up Harry," Hermione said to me as she hung her coat up on a peg. I nodded and walked to Harry's bed. Harry was on his side, facing me. Normally he looked so stressed, but now, his face was smooth and relaxed. I almost didn't want to wake him. I sat on the edge of his bed and watched him sleep for a few minutes. His hair had become too long, and it was splayed messily over his pillow. He looked so beautiful just lying there, so peaceful and at ease. Hermione's voice startled me out of my trance, "Ariel, you going to get him out of bed?" "Oh, right," I said, blushing. I mentally kicked myself. I placed my hand on Harry's shoulder and gently shook him. "Harry," I whispered, "it's time to wake up." He opened his eyes and squinted up at me. "Ariel?" he inquired sleepily. "Yes. Good morning," I said, after handing him his glasses and standing up. He put on his glasses and looked up at me. "Good morning," he said, smiling. His ran a hand over his hair in an attempt to smooth it down. He threw back the covers and swung his legs over the side of the bed. Since I had been out with Hermione all week doing night watch, I had never seen Harry get dressed for bed. I wasn't sure what I was expecting him to be wearing, but I certainly wasn't prepared for him to only be wearing a pair of low slung pajama pants. The heavy winter clothes I had grown accustomed to seeing him in didn't do his physique justice. He had mentioned he had played Quidditch regularly since he was 11, but I didn't think much of it until now. I couldn't help but admire him. He caught me looking before I could turn away. I abruptly looked down at my hands, rolling my wand back and forth. Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw him smile. He went into the bathroom to freshen up and get dressed for the day. I looked over to Ron's bed to see if Hermione had had any luck getting him to wake up, since he had been notoriously hard to awaken every day since I had gotten there. While he had not gotten out of bed yet, he was awake and propped up on is elbow facing Hermione, who had laid down on top of the covers to face him. They were talking, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. I didn't want to interrupt the exchange, but my growling stomach betrayed me. Hermione turned to me. "Let's make breakfast Ariel!" She jumped up from the bed to allow Ron to get up and get ready for the day. He threw back the covers and to my dismay, Ron was dressed identical to Harry. He, too, had an amazing body. I glanced at Hermione to see her watching him appreciatively. I gained a sort of respect for her in that moment; trudging around in the woods in the dead of winter with two painfully athletic-bodied wizards without dying of sexual frustration. I pushed the thought out of my mind and joined Hermione in the kitchen. We cooked up a big breakfast for the four of us and called the boys in. They sat the table as I brewed a quick pot of coffee. A few minutes later, the four of us were sitting down to eat and discuss our next move.

Even after two cups of coffee each, Hermione and I were still tired from being up all night. I went to gather my things and head to my tent which we had set up right next to theirs. I was about to lift the flap to go outside when Harry stopped me. "Why don't you just sleep in here for now? No sense in being by yourself," he said. "I guess I can sleep on the couch here," I said. "You can sleep in my bed if you want," Harry said shyly. He waited for my reaction. "Really?" He nodded. " "Well.. I'm going to get out of these heavy clothes. I'll be back in a second," I went into my tent and set down my book and dug around in my bag for something comfortable to sleep in. I took off my heavy winter clothes, took a quick shower, and put on my pajama clothes, which consisted of a pair of yoga pants and a white beater. I reentered the trio's tent. I could feel Harry's eyes on me as I walked over to his bed and sat on the edge. I pretended not to notice him watching me as I pulled my damp hair into a messy braid, kicked off my shoes, and got under the covers. I turned to face the wall. Harry's scent filled the bed; some type of cologne mixed with something woodsy. I breathed in deeply, trying to commit the scent to memory. I gave a content sigh and drifted off to sleep quickly.

I awoke 6 hours later feeling refreshed. Harry's bed was warm and comfortable, so I didn't want to get up right away. I flipped over onto my back. I was startled to find Harry sitting on the bottom edge of the bed. "You're awake!" Harry said smiling. I couldn't help but smile back. "Did you sleep well?" he asked. I stretched. "I slept very well. Your bed feels great," I said. "It's pretty comfortable, I put a charm on it to make it that way," said Harry. An awkward silence followed. Before either of us could think of anything to say, Ron came in. "Harry," he said gravely, "It's time." Harry nodded and stood up. "It's time for what?" I asked Harry. He handed me the sweater I had draped over a nearby chair. "We didn't tell you, but we have a horcrux. We had all been trying to think of a way to destroy it, and I guess Hermione figured it out." Now I was frantically trying to tie my shoes. "What?" I exploded. "You had a horcrux this whole time and you didn't tell me? What the fuck Harry!" His face fell. He looked hurt; I didn't care. It hurt my feelings that none of them had told me they had a horcrux. I felt untrusted. It didn't take me long to find Hermione and Ron, and they both looked alarmed when I approached. "Why did neither of you tell me you had a horcrux? WHY!" I demanded, shouting the last word. Hermione looked like she was on the verge of tears. I looked away from her. "Ariel.." Ron started. "Ronald Weasley you tell me RIGHT NOW why you kept this from me!" Ron looked taken aback for a moment. By this time, Harry had joined the group. Harry approached Ron and handed him something that resembled a crown. I glanced fiercely at each of their faces. I opened my mouth to shout again, but Hermione held up her hand. "Ariel, we just found this a few days ago. We did think much of it until now. I thought a little girl had just left it in the woods during a camping trip with her family. Then, while you were still sleeping, Ron and I were out here at the brook trying to catch a few fish, and we saw it. The sword of Gryffindor," she lifted up a shiny silver sword from behind a large rock. "I gave it to Ron, and he was going to take it to the tent, and show Harry, but when the sword got close to the diadem, the diadem started shaking and making a squealing noise, and that's when we knew." I stood with my mouth open slightly, brow furrowed, trying to think of my next move. Ron stepped closer to me, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Harry said his scar hurt him really bad when the two got close together, and in your sleep you were clutching your scar. Then Harry got really mad, which is when Hermione and I took the diadem and the sword away from the tent, to here. Then you woke up. And you were mad when you found out. It affects you two because you're both connected to him," he dropped his hand. "I'm.. sorry. I felt so out of control. I felt like you guys didn't trust me, and that you only let me hang around because you felt sorry for me, and that you didn't think I was helpful," I paused for a breath. "That's the horcrux talking," said Harry gently. I nodded. "Let's destroy it," I said. Hermione handed the sword to Harry, "Ron destroyed the first one, I think it's your turn Harry," she said. Harry gripped the sword tightly and slowly raised it above his head as Ron set the diadem on a tree stump. He started to bring the sword down on it when it screeched loudly and a cloud of smoke rose up from the jewel in the center of the crown. Ron grabbed Hermione and I and pulled us back, shielding us protectively from whatever was inside of the diadem. Smoke billowed up into the sky, and a demonic voice began to speak.

"Harry Potter, I have seen inside your heart, inside your soul. I have seen your fears. You fear your friends are only your friends because of your infamy, that the girl you desire who bares the same scar as you thinks that you are nothing..." The voice trailed off for a moment and the smoke took the form of three figures. I gasped aloud when I realized it was Hermione, Ron and I. Horcrux Hermione spoke first. "Who are you Harry Potter? You are an orphan. You have no family, and no one who loves you. No friends, NO ONE." Horcrux Ron spoke next: "You think you are the best wizard alive. You think because you are the Chosen Boy, you are mightier than everyone else. No one cares." Horcrux me spoke the final words: "Harry Potter, the boy who lived. What girl would ever truly love you? Girls only want you because you are the Chosen One. No real girl could ever want to be with you. Girls want a real man like Ronald Weasley." Horcrux Ron put an arm around Horcrux Hermione and I and kissed us both on the cheek. Our figures looked up at him adoringly. Tears streamed down Harry's face. "Kill it Harry! Make it stop!" Ron called to him over the screams of the horcrux. Harry took a deep breath and smashed the sword down onto the crown. It screeched loudly at its destruction, and everything went quiet. Ron was still clutching Hermione and I protectively to his chest. Harry took one look at the three of us huddled together and, dropping the sword, ran off to the tent. Ron released his hold on us and I dropped to my knees. Hermione dropped down beside me and pulled me into a hug. "We have to tell him it's not true, none of its true!" I cried. "I have to say I'm a little hurt that NONE of it is true," said Ron, attempting humor. "Oh Ron, I didn't mean it like that. Any girl would be lucky to have you," I said, flickering my eyes to Hermione, then back to him. "I know. But those were Harry's deepest fears. That we don't value him as a person, that we aren't his real friends, that we think he's full of himself... that you would never be with him." He watched me as he said the last part. I wasn't sure what to do. "I don't know what to say to him," I admitted at last. "Go talk to him, the words will find you," Hermione said encouragingly. "Ron and I will leave you two alone for a bit," she smiled. I took a deep breath and started heading back to the tent.

When I made it to the tent, I stood outside the door for a minute. Inside, I could hear sniffling, accompanied by the occasional sigh. I closed my eyes for a moment to collect myself, then opened them back up and stepped inside. Harry was sitting on his bed with his head in his hands. He looked up when I took a tentative step forward. I opened my mouth to say something, but I couldn't think of anything to say. He stared at me as I stood there with my mouth hanging open. He wiped the tears from his face and stood up, turning away from me to pace the floor. "You weren't supposed to see any of that," he said in a flat voice. I took a few more steps toward him. "I didn't realize you were so insecure Harry," I said softly. He turned back toward me, his expression unreadable. His brow furrowed anxiously. He rubbed a hand on the back of his neck for a moment, and then let it drop to his side. "None of that is true you know. Nothing you fear is true," I said, taking another tentative step towards him. He had stopped pacing. "You have plenty of friends. Ron and Hermione are your best friends because you are a good person, not because you're the Chosen Boy. No one finds you arrogant; they know you don't hold yourself above others." I took another step toward him. We were now close enough to touch. His eyes were wide and expectant. His expression told me he was wondering more about what Horcrux me had said more than anything I had already mentioned. "Any girl would be more than lucky to have you, and not because you're the Chosen One. Because of who you are in here," I placed my hand on his heart briefly to emphasize my point. When I did this, his eyes shut for a moment and he swallowed hard. When he opened his eyes, he closed the gap between us and circled his arms around me to place his hands on the small of my back. "Oh!" I said, surprised at what just happened. I let my hands rest on his chest. I could feel his heart beating wildly, matching mine. He began to bring his face closer to mine very slowly, keeping his eyes locked on mine all the while. Closer and closer he got, and when our noses were almost touching, I closed my eyes and waited for our lips to meet.

Ron and Hermione burst in looking worried. Harry and I all but jumped apart. Neither seemed to notice they had interrupted something. Hermione spoke. "The snatchers! They're here in the woods! Ron and I saw them. We don't want to risk being seen. Even with the enchantments..." she trailed off, trying to catch her breath. She looked to Ron to finish her thought for her. "We want to get everything packed up and apparate somewhere else just to be safe. I already have a place in mind," he looked back and forth between us. I quickly got up. "I can be packed in 5 minutes! I'll get on it," I said. I went into my tent and gathered what I needed into my bag before going outside and hastily disassembling my tent with a collapsing charm. In the meantime, the boys and Hermione took similar action and we were all ready to apparate within 10 minutes. "Everyone ready?" Ron asked. We all nodded silently. We formed a circle. Hermione and Ron automatically joined hands. I grabbed Ron's hand as Harry reached out for Hermione's. Then he held his other hand out to me. I lifted my hand to meet his; he laced his fingers through mine. Even though we were in potential danger, I couldn't help the feeling in my stomach when I felt him tighten his grip on my hand. Before I knew it I heard Ron's whisper something and we were sucked away.


	3. The Way You Look Tonight

We had apparated to a beautiful, secluded beach. The sunset reflected off the water as the waves lapped at the shore. Ron released my hand and began helping Hermione sort through her bag. Harry and I, still holding hands, stood there frozen. "Are you going to help or just stand there?" asked Hermione. Her eyes flashed over our hands, and a mischievous smile spread over her face. Harry let go of my hand and busied himself with helping Ron pound the tent stakes in the ground. Hermione raced over and helped me remove my tent from my bag. "What are you doing?" I asked as she rummaged around for my tent stakes. "It's time we're all under one roof. Ron is going to make the two tents into one," she said matter-of-factly. I looked at her. Her eyebrows raised suggestively and a smile erupted across her face. Before I had time to react or even say anything, she took my tent and the stakes to Ron, who handed them to Harry.

Hermione came back a few moments later with an armful of stones. "Help me make a pit, will you?" she asked breathlessly. We began to dig when we noticed the boys were done. "Harry, would you go grab some driftwood while I start dinner?" I brushed the sand off my hands and stood upright. "Yeah, I'll be right back!" he ran off as he called his reply to me. I went inside our now mansion sized tent (at least on the inside) and inspected Ron and Harry's handy-work before making my way to the kitchen. They had done an excellent job merging the tents. They had rearranged some of the furniture to make the space make more sense. The main furniture placement difference I noticed was our beds. On one end of the tent were Ron and Hermione's beds, and on the other side of the tent were mine and Harry's. I had a feeling Harry had something to do with Ron and Hermione's beds being side by side, but I wasn't sure what to think of our beds being side by side. Hermione came in a minute later, also noticing the rearrangement. "I see the boys have done some redecorating," she smiled broadly. I could hear the boys mumbling outside and then a minute later, something crackling. I guessed that they had started a fire for us. "I think we have the ingredients for tomato soup and grilled cheese," said Hermione as she walked to the kitchen. "That sounds good," I said, following behind her. Hermione moved to the cupboard and removed a couple cans of soup and a loaf of bread. We went to work cooking dinner while the boys relaxed outside.

After we ate dinner and cleaned up the kitchen, the four of us went outside to sit around the now roaring fire. After a few minutes, Ron spoke up. "This is so relaxing. It's nice to have a night where we aren't worried about dying." "Speaking of relaxing," I said, "how did you pick this place to camp? It's gorgeous, but this is a far cry from what I expected after spending forever in the freezing woods with you guys." "My older brother Bill and his new wife Fleur were looking at some property here before they decided to move to the coast of France," he replied. We were quiet for a moment before Hermione spoke. "How about we have a little fun with some firewhiskey?" She looked around to all of us. "That sounds great. We can loosen up," I replied, giving Hermione a knowing look. She pursed her lips back at me, then disappeared inside the tent. "Mione grab those cauldron shaped shot glasses!" Ron called to her. "They're fun to drink out of, the little cauldrons," he said to me. Hermione emerged a moment later carrying a full bottle of firewhiskey and four cauldrons the size of shot glasses. She handed one to each of us. Harry took the bottle from her and opened it. He carefully poured himself a shot before moving around the fire to fill each of our cauldrons. When he finished he capped the bottle and set it in the sand. He stood with his cauldron in the air. The three of us still sitting joined him in his toast. "To us" he said clicking his cauldron against everyone else's. "To us," we repeated. I tipped back the cauldron and let the firewhiskey drain into my mouth. With a labored swallow, I was able to get it down. I felt the burn after. "AHHHH!" moaned Hermione, "it burns every time!" She laughed. Harry and Ron seemed unscathed. "Another," said Ron, holding his cauldron out to Harry. He filled it again. "Girls, you have to take another one too," he said in mock sorrow. I was prepared this time. "I'll go this time," I volunteered. We held our cauldrons in the air again. "To you three, for taking me in when I was a lone wanderer, trusting me enough to let me into your tight knit trio that has held together since you were 11 and just starting to use your magic. For letting me become your friend," I smiled at my three new friends. "Cheers." We tipped back our cauldrons. "We should all make a toast. So we'll need two more shots, at least," Ron said, grabbing the bottle from the sand. He filled our cauldrons for the third time. "Ron these cauldron shots are huge, my head is already swimming after two!" I admitted. "More the reason to do two more!" he replied cheerfully. He held his cauldron up. "No offense to Ariel or Harry, but I would like to make a toast to Hermione, for being the most brilliant witch I know. Without her, we wouldn't have gotten as far as we are right now," he said, looking at Hermione adoringly. She blushed. We gulped down our third shot. My head spun. "One more!" exclaimed Ron. He poured each of us another shot. "My turn!" said Hermione loudly. She giggled and held her cauldron in the air. "I'm drunk!" she said, laughing. We all laughed and drank our shot. Hermione stumbled in the sand, falling into me. We both burst out laughing. As I helped her regain her balance I whispered to her, "Now's your chance with Ron!" She looked at me wide eyed. "You think so?" she said, unsure. I gave her a light push towards him. The force of my push sent her stumbling toward him. She tripped on the edge of a chair and began to fall. Ron caught her in his lap. She blushed as he giggled. He brushed her hair from her face. "Are you alright Mione?" he asked. She nodded, still blushing. I didn't hear Harry approach me from behind. "Let's let them be alone for a bit," he whispered. I nodded and turned toward him. He had already turned and was walking away from our campsite, toward a huge rock jutting out of the surf a few hundred yards away. I jogged to catch up with him. We reached the rock a few minutes later. Harry climbed up on it first and reached out a hand to me to help me up. Once on the rock, we sat and watched the waves roll in. Harry watched me unbraid my hair and shake it out. The wind off the ocean blew it gently away from my face. I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply, enjoying the breeze. I felt him staring at me. I opened my eyes and turned my head to look at him. "You're beautiful Ariel, do you know that?" he asked. I blushed. "Thank you," I whispered."What are you tossers doing?" we heard a voice from behind us say. Ron and Hermione had walked down the beach to where we were perched. Harry and I slid off the rock onto the sand to be level with Ron and Hermione. "We thought you guys were busy," Harry said. Ron looked confused. Hermione looked disappointed. "No, I only fell. Then Ron helped me up. Then we realized you had walked down here. Ron wanted to see what you were up to," she said with a sigh. She flopped down in the sand and motioned for us to sit with her.

We decided a little while later to head back to our tent and get ready for bed. With the tent rearranged the way it was, Ron and Hermione shared a bathroom, and Harry and I shared a bathroom. Harry and I went into the bathroom at the same time to brush our teeth. The bathroom was tiny, so we stood closely as we brushed. We both spat and rinsed and Harry made a gesture and said "After you." I left the bathroom. There were no lights on on the other side of the tent. I could make out Ron and Hermione laying in their respective beds. They were facing each other, but I couldn't tell if they were talking to one another or sleeping. "They're talking," Harry said, seemingly being able to read my mind. I turned to him. "They talk a lot at night. Not about anything in particular. I keep telling Ron he should bring up certain things, but he hasn't got the nerve he says," Harry said, laying his wand on our now-shared bedside table. I laid my wand beside his. "I was telling Hermione earlier that it would be the perfect time to make a move, what with them both being full of liquid courage," I said climbing into bed. I laid back and pulled the covers up. Harry nodded in agreement, then pulled his shirt up over his head and tossed it in the floor. I forgot to look away again, and he caught me admiring him. Things were different now between us, and the way that he looked back at me as I watched him get ready for bed told me that. I wasn't sure if I should turn away, or let myself keep looking at him. I chose the latter. He laid down in his bed a moment later and pulled the covers up over him. "Good night Ariel," he said quietly. "Night Harry," I whispered back.

That night I dreamt of Harry Potter.

In my dream, Harry and I were back at the rock we had sat on earlier that evening. The moon was full, and it lit up the entire beach like it was daytime. We had laid back to look at the stars. Harry knew all the constellations and he was pointing them out to me one by one. I was trying to see one he had pointed out to me and I was struggling to piece it together when I felt him shift his weight up onto his elbow. I looked up at him. "I'm kind of embarrassed that you saw my fears in the horcrux the other night. But I'm not ashamed. I know someone like you would never be with someone like me—" "What are you talking about? What do you mean someone like me, someone like you? What's wrong with you?" I questioned him, slightly angered that he would put himself down like that. "Who would want me? I'm damaged goods. I've got no parents, no real family even, half the wizarding world wants me dead, I'm kind of nerdy, I'm not terribly handsome," he said, stopping to take a breath. I scoffed at him. "I know who would want you," I whispered. "Who?" he asked, barely audible. "Me," I said shyly.

There it was. I couldn't escape it, even in my dreams. I had fallen for the Boy Who Lived. Even in my unconscious dream-state I chuckled inwardly at the irony.

A loud bellow brought me out of my dream abruptly. "AHHHHH!" I nearly went through the roof of the tent. Harry was sitting up in his bed, a thin sheen of sweat covering him. His face was pale and his hair was everywhere. "Harry are you okay?" I asked worriedly. He reached for the lamp and switched it on. He grabbed his glasses from the table and put them on. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. I was having this dream. We were all at Hogwarts fighting You Know Who and he was just killing everyone... there was nothing I could do.." he trailed off, still gasping for air. He threw back his covers and got out of bed. I sat up. "I've gotta get outta here for a little bit," he said, throwing his shirt back on and rummaging around in his trunk for a pair of shoes. I glanced at the clock. 3:30 A.M. "Will you come with me?" I turned to him. I blinked. "Of course," I replied, startled by the invitation, but touched that he wanted me to join him. I realized, as I got dressed to go outside, that this was the first time we would be alone since the almost-kiss the other night. I suddenly felt a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach. Harry led the way out of the tent. As we walked out, I stole a glimpse at Hermione and Ron. They had fallen asleep holding hands across the gap that separated their beds. I smiled to myself before following Harry out. He stood for a minute at the door of the tent, staring out to sea. I came to stand beside him. He took a deep breath and let it out. He turned to me, lacing his fingers through mine. "Is this okay?" he asked tentatively. I nodded, giving his hand a squeeze. "Let's go," he said, leading us down the beach in the opposite direction we had gone earlier. We walked for a while without talking; the rhythmic pattern of the waves crashing against the shore was the only sound. Harry's hand felt comfortable and warm in mine, despite the chilly night air.

Without realizing it, we had walked nearly a mile down the beach from our camp. We were approaching a pier. Harry broke our long silence, "Let's go up there." He led the way over to a set of stairs. We walked up the stairs and out to the end of the pier. The moon was bright and the sky was cloudless; we could see all around us. Other than our tiny campsite, now the size of a firefly in the distance, there was absolutely nothing around. I let go of Harry's hand and leaned on the edge of the railing. "This beach is gorgeous. I've always loved the beach, it's my favorite place to be," I said, looking off into the dark horizon. Harry nodded in agreement. He approached the railing beside me; leaning on his outstretched arms. We were quiet for a few minutes; I used those moments to take in the salt breeze and the sound of the crashing waves, and trying to commit to memory how painfully beautiful Harry looked standing on the edge of the pier, the wind gently blowing his hair around. He looked at me questioningly. "I'm sorry," I said, looking out over the water. "Don't be sorry, I'm just curious as to why you are looking at me that way," he replied. "It's nothing," I said bashfully. Harry removed his hands from the railing and turned to face me. I began to get nervous at his closeness, and my heart thumped loudly in my chest; I was sure he could hear it. "Tell me," he whispered, his warm breath fanning over my face. How was I supposed to think when he was that close? I closed my eyes for a moment. When I opened them, Harry looking at me. "I was just.. trying to memorize the way you look right now," I paused for a moment, "You're beautiful Harry," I whispered. I heard a low rumble in his chest and in an instant his hands were on either side of my face. He paused for a moment to look into my eyes, as if looking for approval, before pressing his lips against mine gently. The feeling was electric. When his tongue traced along my bottom lip, I opened my mouth a bit to allow him entry. He pulled away shortly after. I was rendered speechless. My breath came in short pants. "YOU are beautiful," he said, brushing his lips against my jaw. My eyes fluttered at the feeling. He turned my face back to his; he seemed to be waiting on me to say something. Since I had apparently lost the ability to speak, I did the only thing I could think of; I leaned forward and kissed him back. This time was a little more intense. His tongue found mine almost immediately, his hands tangling in my hair. When this kiss ended, we were both breathing a little shallow. He removed his hands from my hair and took a step back to give each of us some breathing room. I couldn't fight the smile the crept across my face. Harry's expression mirrored mine. "I've only thought about doing that every moment since the other night in the tent," he confessed. "I could've killed them, bursting in like that. Mentally I was stabbing them within an inch of their lives. There was nothing I wanted more than for you to kiss me," I said. "Wish granted," he said, kissing me softly once more. He wrapped me in a gentle hug, and then took my hand again. We didn't say much on the way back to the tent. When we got back to camp, he held the tent open for me and motioned for me to go in first. Harry followed in closely behind me. As we fastened the door shut, we heard rustling behind us. I turned around to see Hermione sitting up in her bed. She was no longer holding Ron's hand, which was still outstretched towards her in his sleep. "Where did you two go?" she asked sleepily. "I had another nightmare," Hermione nodded knowingly, "and when I screamed Ariel woke up. Then I asked her to go for a walk on the beach with me so I could clear my head," he said, taking his shoes off and setting them by Ron's boots. "And?" she said expectantly. "And... now we're back," Harry replied, heading to his bed. She shifted her gaze to me. I mouthed "tomorrow" to her when Harry's back was turned. She nodded excitedly and laid back down. She gingerly took Ron's hand in hers again. He stirred slightly and tightened his hold on her hand before I turned away to go to my bed. Harry had already undressed and gotten back in bed, but his eyes were still open. I threw my sweatshirt on the foot of my bed and kicked off my shoes in the floor. I climbed in to bed and laid to face Harry. "Good night Harry," I whispered. "Night Ariel," he replied, smiling.

I fell asleep quickly and immediately dreamed of Harry. This time we were somewhere I had never seen before, a heavily wooded area. The dream was so vivid; I could feel the thick mist swirling around us, clinging to my hair and skin. I detected the smell of smoke far off in the distance. Harry and I walked through the thick woods until we came to a clearing; in the clearing stood a tall hooded figure. The figure removed their hood and turned around. A pale, smooth, familiar face with snake eyes now faced us. I opened my mouth to scream but nothing came out. You Know Who laughed. A bright green light shot out from his wand. I turned to Harry to tell him we should run, but he was on the ground; his eyes closed; motionless.

My eyes flew open and I sat up in bed abruptly. "You were dreaming about Voldemort," Harry said softly. Not a question, but a statement. I rolled over on my side to face him. "How did you know?" I asked, trying to steady my breath. "You were tossing and turning a lot; touching your scar; mumbling the word 'no' over and over." He got out of his bed and sat on the edge of mine. "I dream about him most nights. Some worse than others. Occasionally my mind lets me take a break and I get to dream about other things.. but not often. If you ever want to talk it, I'll listen." He brushed a few hairs away from my face, his fingers lingering on my cheek. He stood up then, reaching for his glasses. He walked through the tent into our kitchen area. I now had an unobstructed view of the opposite side of the tent where Ron and Hermione were staring slack-jawed at me. Without looking at him, Hermione began giving Ron instructions, "Ron, why don't you join Harry in the kitchen and figure out breakfast. Ariel and I will go get some driftwood for a fire this evening." Ron picked his jaw up off the floor. "Right," he said slowly making his way towards the kitchen. I got out of bed and put on my shoes. By the time I sat up from tying them, Hermione was hovering over me impatiently. I looked up at her, startled by her closeness. "Come ON!" she urged, pulling me out of the tent. Once we were out of earshot of the boys, she turned to me with a smile plastered across her face. "What HAPPENED?" she asked excitedly. "And what was that, this morning? Sitting on your bed and stroking your face?" "He kissed me last night. Or, this morning rather. When we left to walk the beach," I said, trying to downplay the whole thing. Her eyes light up and she squealed. I laughed. "How did it happen? I need details!" she exclaimed, leaning down to gather a few pieces of wood. "Well.." I began. "He asked me to go walk with him, and, being completely infatuated with him-" I paused. Hermione turned. "Completely infatuated, yes, go on," she said. I decided to move on with the story. "Anyways, I said of course I would go with him, so we went out the tent and he decides he's going to hold my hand. Naturally I oblige, so we walked all the way down to the pier and we were standing up there watching the water, and... he kissed me," I sighed recalling the memory. "And this morning?" she prodded. "I was having a bad dream.. that You Know Who.." I struggled with the next word, "killed... Harry. I woke up and Harry was looking at me. He said I had been restless in my sleep, tossing and turning, saying no, touching my scar. Then he sat on my bed and told me about how he has bad dreams all the time, and that if I ever wanted to talk about them he would listen." "Harry really is such a good bloke," I nodded in agreement. "Not that I think you would but please.. he's my best friend. He's broken, and no one has ever been able to fix him. And I don't want either of you to get hurt," Hermione said, turning us around to head back to camp. "Harry is lucky to have a friend like you Hermione," I said sincerely. She smiled. We didn't speak until we got back to the tent, where we were met with the smell of food. We set down the driftwood by our fire pit and headed inside. We could hear plates clattering together. We walked into our kitchen area and were met with french toast, bacon, and pumpkin juice. "I can't cook hardly anything, but I did inherit the ability to replicate my mother's french toast recipe to near perfection," said Ron, grinning broadly. Hermione chose a place setting and started to sit down, but Ron ran to her and pulled her chair out for her, all gentleman like. "Ronald Weasley, such a gentleman," said Hermione with faint surprise. He smiled again and pushed her chair in. "Ron you're making me look bad," said Harry jokingly, pulling a chair out for me. I laughed and sat down. The boys sat down and the next few minutes were spent stuffing our faces. To my surprise, Ron's french toast was absolutely fabulous. Between mouthfuls I complimented his cooking. Hermione never took her eyes off of him.


	4. Physical Escalation

Harry kissed me a few more times after that night on the pier, each one sweeter than the first. Ron and Hermione seemed to progress emotionally after watching Harry and I turn into.. whatever we were, but it was hard to tell. It was sweet to watch him do things for her, or see him reach across the gap between their beds to hold her hand at night. Nearly a month passed without incident, and one night Ron decided he wanted to pull out the fire whiskey again. We decided to make mixed drinks and sit out by the fire. Ron decided to bartend, and he mixed our drinks strong, so by the time we were all on our fourth drinks, we were laughing loudly with one another. Hermione, having trouble holding herself up in her chair, decided she would lay a spare blanket in the sand so she had room to "spread out" (whatever that meant). She disappeared into the tent for a moment and returned with a large blanket. She tried unsuccessfully to spread it out about 2 yards away from our camp site. Laughing, Ron stood up, "Hermione you're smashed! Let me help you." He walked over to where she was sitting and kneeled down to fix the rumpled blanket. "Sit with me Ron," she said. Harry and I gave each other a look. Ron glanced back at us. Harry flashed him a thumbs up and he nervously sat down beside Hermione on the blanket. We watched them carefully. "Mione, why are you so drunk? How did this happen?" said Ron, amused. "I drank them fast because I wanted to be drunk fast so I could be brave," she replied. Ron looked confused. "Brave for what?" Hermione got dangerously close to him. "For this," she breathed, bringing a hand up to the nape of his neck. She paused only briefly before leaning in to kiss him softly. Harry and I stared in amazement at Hermione's bold move. Ron wrapped his arms around her and deepened their kiss. Harry grabbed my hand and led me towards the tent entrance, wanting to give them the privacy they needed.

As soon as we were inside, Harry gave me a quick peck. "You know, I'm feeling kind of... brave.. myself," he said circling his arms around my waist. "Oh yeah?" I questioned. "Maybe I am too." He pulled me close and kissed me tenderly. His tongue ran along my bottom lip asking for permission to enter my mouth, and I gladly obliged. He let his hands wander over me, sending shivers up my spine. Other than a few kisses here and there, Harry and I had done nothing physical; we hadn't even had the opportunity. Not that I hadn't thought about it pretty much every night as I laid in bed, waiting for sleep to take over. I had even had a few dreams that I would never tell anyone about. I worked up the courage to escalate the situation. I let my hands play with the waistband of his jeans for a minute before sliding them slowly up the sides of his torso underneath his shirt. He sucked in a sharp breath as I did this. I ran my fingertips back down his sides and over his washboard stomach, then back down to his waistband, causing him to shudder. In no time he was pulling me toward his bed. He spun us around so the bed was against the back of my knees. I lowered myself down onto the bed and laid back on the pillow; Harry was next to me in a millisecond. He kissed my lips once before moving across my cheek and down my jaw. He continued on to my neck and at that point began gently nipping at it with his teeth. I gasped quietly at the sensation. His tongue snaked out and licked behind my ear then down my neck a bit to my scar. His hot breath tickled my neck, making me tingle. I tried, unsuccessfully, to stifle a moan. Suddenly he moved away from me. "Harry, I..." I trailed off, trying to catch my breath and hoping he would return his lips to my neck. He was on the edge of the bed taking his shoes off. "I wanted to get more comfortable," he replied, smirking slightly. When he rolled back over to lay beside me again, I reached my hand up to thread it through his long, disheveled, dark hair and pulled him in for a kiss. Harry quickly took the lead, pushing his tongue in to massage mine again. I pressed my body against his, eager for more contact. His response was to kiss me harder. He then shifted his weight around so he was on top of me. I could feel his hardness on the inside of my thigh. I maneuvered a bit so he was laying in between my legs, our bodies lined up. He started kissing down my neck again, and added to the feeling by grinding his hips against mine. I moaned at the sensation. After what seemed like hours, I was all but gasping for air when he climbed off of me and sat me up hastily. He tugged on the bottom of my tank top, hinting that he wanted it off. I raised my arms over my head so he could remove it. Another swift motion and my bra was in the floor with my tank top. He cupped my breasts in his warm, rough hands and kissed my neck again. "Oh Harry.." I breathed. He massaged my chest, gently circling my nipples with his fingertips as we kissed. I needed more. I began unbuttoning his shirt. I pushed it off of his shoulders and it dropped to the floor. He quickly pulled his white t-shirt up over his head and discarded it on the floor with his button-up. He wasted no time reaching for the waistband of my pants and pushing them down my hips. I laid back so he could pull them off of me. I unbuckled his belt and jeans and pushed them down to his knees for him. He kicked them off somewhere in the floor with the rest of our clothes. Now, clad in only our underwear, we resumed our kissing. Harry didn't climb back on top of me right away, and I strangely missed the feeling of his body on mine. When I felt his hand graze across my stomach, my breath caught in my throat. His hand slid down my stomach until I could feel his fingertips brush against the waistline of my underwear. I felt his hardness again against the outside of my leg. I gave his hand an encouraging push with my own. He slid his hand down into my underwear slowly, still kissing me softly all the while. When he reached my sensitive spot, he slid one finger over it and I gasped. There was no hiding how turned on I was at that moment. "So wet," I heard him mumble. He pushed my legs apart a little farther and began rubbing circles over my nub. I moaned and arched up into his hand. Harry continued the slow circling as I reached over to feel his hardness. It twitched slightly when I first grazed my fingertips over it. Harry shifted a bit to give me better access. I wrapped my fingers around the length tightly and began to move my hand up and down over top of the fabric. He was straining against his boxers as I continued to manipulate him with my hand. I felt myself getting close to release; Harry must've known by my body language and heavy breathing, but he abruptly moved his hand away. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding because of the loss of his touch and the feeling of him in my hand. His eyes were wide and his breath was shallow. I felt like I was on fire. My body screamed for him, ached for his touch.

I wanted him.

"Why did you stop?" I whispered breathlessly. "I want to be inside of you when you cum," he said in a low, gravelly voice. I couldn't hold back the whimper that escaped from the back of my throat. "Do you need your wand?" he said against my lips. "I'm on Muggle contraceptives," I reassured him. I reached for the waistband of his boxers and grazed my fingertips just under the elastic. He discarded his boxers quickly, freeing his hardness. He then moved down the bed a bit and kneeled beside me. He hooked his thumbs under the waistband of my underwear on either side and pulled them down tantalizingly slow. Once he got them all the way off, he lowered himself on to me. I opened my legs a little so he could rub up against my opening. It was slick with want for him. Harry shuddered at the sensation and unconsciously slid the tip in. I cried out at the sudden feeling. Harry kissed up my neck to my ear, breathing heavily. "You feel better than I imagined," he said breathlessly. "So do you," I whispered, rocking my hips against him. The smooth tip of his hardness passed over the entrance. Harry planted soft, slow, sensual kisses on my lips. I arched up to him again and again relishing the feeling of the head brushing across my sensitive opening; enjoying the coy game of 'just the tip', but I wanted more. "Please.. Please Harry," I begged into his mouth. He nodded and pushed into me slowly, both of us moaning at the feeling. He started slow, enjoying the warm, wet, tightness I enveloped him in. I could already feel my pleasure building with each thrust of his hips. Without warning, he bent down and took one of my nipples into his mouth. His swirling tongue caused me to see stars. As my own pleasure kept rising, he began picking up speed and was soon panting hard. He let go of my nipple to return his lips to my neck briefly to kiss my scar, making it feel hot. I didn't have time to dwell on it because his mouth was back on mine moments later. His soft, sweet kisses were replaced with rough kisses. I let my fingers tangle in his messy hair. I began meeting his thrusts each time he pushed into me. He moaned appreciatively. It wasn't long until I felt myself approaching release. I quickened my thrusts, and Harry took that as his cue to do the same. A few thrusts later and I went over the edge. "Harry!" I whispered breathlessly. I moaned loudly as Harry thrusted deep and hard into me. I clawed mercilessly at his back. I could feel him tensing, preparing for release. Two more thrusts and I felt him spill inside me with a low groan. He collapsed on top of me. His head was on my chest, which was rising and falling with ragged breaths. I reached up and brushed the hair off his forehead, exposing his scar. I craned my neck up to kiss it. We laid together this way for a while, neither of us able to move. After a few minutes, Harry found the strength to roll off of me. He pulled me into his chest and kissed the top of my head. His hair had started to curl along the edges from the heat we had created. I reached up to play with a stray curl at the nape of his neck. He kissed me softly on the lips. I snuggled up to his chest and he wrapped his arms around me. We drifted off to sleep quickly.

I awoke early the next morning to Harry whispering "Good morning" in my ear and planting kisses along my jawline. "Good morning Harry," I whispered back, turning my face so I could find his lips. I found them quickly, kissing him tenderly. It was only 7 a.m. I discovered, looking at the small clock on our bedside table. We quietly snuggled for a moment when suddenly Harry said, "Ron." "Hermione!" was my reply. We dressed quickly and went outside. Ron and Hermione we're sleeping peacefully together on the blanket Hermione had struggled to put down in the sand the night before. They had somehow acquired another blanket and their pillows; they must've come in once we had fallen asleep. They looked so perfect, laying together under the same blanket. Harry kicked Ron's foot. "Harry!" I exclaimed. Ron mumbled something and began to stir. Hermione remained asleep. Ron opened his eyes and looked at Harry and I. Then he shifted his gaze to Hermione laying beside him. He sat up and looked at Harry. He didn't say anything for a moment. Finally, he spoke, "I love her Harry." He squinted up at us. "I know Ron. I'm glad," Harry said. Hermione awoke then. She looked up at Ron, absolutely beaming. "Good morning," she whispered shyly. Ron kissed her softly. "Morning Hermione." She smiled sweetly at him. When she realized Harry and I were standing over her, she blushed slightly. Ron looked back up at us. "If you two don't mind, I think I'd like to just be with Hermione for a while." "Oh yeah, sure Ron. Ariel and I can swim or something. Take your time," Harry replied. Ron stood up and offered a very happy Hermione his hand, who took it and stood up. She hadn't taken her eyes off of him since she woke up, with the exception of the 5 seconds she took to look at Harry and I. The two of us went inside to change into our swimsuits and grab towels before we were all but shoved out of the tent for the day.

Once outside, I cast a sun protection charm on each of us. I spread out a blanket for us to lay on and sat down to get comfortable when Harry grabbed my hand. He dragged me out to the water's edge. "You want to swim right away?" I asked. "Yes!" he said, dragging me in with him. I laughed as I let him pull me out. The water was chilly and I squealed each time it touched a new part of my skin. We got about waist deep in the water when Harry stopped and turned to face me. We were far out enough that the waves were calm and rolling. He put his arms around me and I looked up towards him, squinting in the sun. He put his forehead to mine; my nose to his nose. "The irony of all this is maddening, you know," Harry giggled. "The two people Voldemort wants dead the most..." he trailed off, searching for the right thing to say. "You are mine, and no one else's," he said, kissing my cheek. "And you are mine, Harry," I replied.

After nearly an hour of swimming, we went back up to the beach to lay in the sun. We started getting restless after a few hours. Reluctantly, Ron and Hermione let us back in the tent to get dressed for the day and grab a bite to eat, but they kept to themselves, laying in Hermione's bed all afternoon.

The next day, I got the one on one time I wanted with Hermione. I was dying to know what all had gone down between Ron and her. She could barely get through the story without sobbing; happy tears flowed freely down her face. I was touched, and surprised, that her feelings for Ron were this deep. With only knowing the trio for a few months, I just simply didn't have the background to know how intense the feelings were. I felt a tug at my heartstrings as she recounted the evening:

Ron and Hermione kissed a long time after Harry and I had gone inside. When Ron broke the kiss, Hermione was panting, her eyes wide. "You kissed me back," she said, surprised at what had just taken place. Ron blinked. "Well yeah, did you think I wouldn't?" he replied. She shrugged. "I didn't think..." she trailed off, not wanting to say her worst fear aloud. "You didn't think what, Hermione?" he brushed a stray hair from her face. Her eyes shined, struggling to voice what she hated to think about. When she didn't answer him, he pulled her close and kissed her again tenderly. When the kiss was over, Hermione could see that Ron's eyes had filled with tears. "Ron?" she ventured, her brow furrowed with worry. He gently held her face in his hands. "Hermione.." he began shakily. He took a deep breath in preparation for what he was about to say. "I love you Hermione Jean Granger. I love you. I've loved you since we were kids." A tear rolled down each cheek. He smiled and gave a small laugh. "I love you! Bloody hell it feels good to say it." Hermione could not stop the tears that flowed. "Oh Ron!" she cried, throwing her arms around him tightly and tackling him to the ground. "I love you too, I love you too!" she whispered as she peppered his face with kisses. They laid on the blanket for hours; crying, talking, kissing, divulging the secrets they had kept from one another for so long.

"Let's go for a swim," Ron said suggestively. "A swim? We haven't got our suits on," she replied. "Don't need 'em," Ron whispered back, kissing her passionately. Hermione immediately understood what he meant. She immediately reached for his flannel button up, shakily undoing each button. It dropped to the sand. Ron helped her remove her shirt and tossed it aside. Pants came off next. They laid in the sand and kissed for a bit before removing the rest of their clothing. They admired each other in the moonlight for a moment before Hermione took Ron's hand and led him slowly into the water.

Hermione paused for a moment. "What happened next?" I asked expectantly. "The most perfect thing I could ask for. He made love to me. It wasn't just sex. He. Made. Love. To. Me," she emphasized each word. "I can't even put into words what it meant to me. I'm sorry Ariel, but there's just no way to describe it." "I understand Mione. I'm so happy for you," I said, hugging her tightly. She smiled as I released her from the hug. "It's weird though, I'm in love with my best friend, and he loves me too. How did I get so lucky?" "You deserve this Hermione, I know how long you waited for it," I said in return. "Let's go see what the boys are up to," I suggested, helping Hermione up from the sand. She nodded.

The four of us, now two couples, fell easily into a routine of being together, protecting one another from potential danger, and trying to figure out where the next horcrux might be. This went on for a few weeks, until a particular Saturday night that changed everything.


	5. Malfoy Manor

Ron and I were sitting outside by the fire playing wizard chess. We had been sitting outside since midnight, when we had discovered Hermione had fallen asleep with her book on her face and Harry had complained of a headache and asked if I would mind taking his night watch shift for a few hours while he rested. We were on our 3rd match when Ron suddenly clamped his hand over my mouth. I gave him a stern look and tried to pry his hand away when he pointed off in the distance at a group of moving bushes. "Aguamente!" he whispered, barely audible. The water doused the fire quickly and it was dark except for the light of the moon. We saw the bushes move again. He motioned for me to go to the tent and wake the others. I rushed off, waking Harry first. "Harry! Harry!" I whispered frantically, shaking him hard. He squinted at me sleepily. I handed him his glasses. "Get up and get dressed quickly, someone's down the beach from us!" I informed him. His eyes grew wide. He jumped out of bed and threw on a pair of jeans, a shirt, and his shoes as I walked farther in the tent to wake Hermione. I heard Harry exit the tent as I sat down on Hermione's bed. I removed the book from her face. The loss of pressure on her face caused her to open her eyes. The look on my face must have told her something was wrong because she sat up quickly and asked, "What's happened? Is Ron alright?" "Ron's fine but you need to get up, someone's outside and we need to be ready to go if we have to," I replied. Hermione shoved her feet into her shoes and grabbed her wand off her bedside table. Together we exited the tent and hastily disassembled it and packed it away in my bag. Harry and Ron had wandered down the beach a ways, and we silently jogged to catch up with them. "I'm going to go see what's up there," Ron whispered to us as we arrived. Worry furrowed Hermione's brow. Ron gave her hand a quick squeeze and snuck up to where we had seen the movement in the bushes earlier. When he was nearly at the crest of the sand dune where the bushes started, we saw a bright flash and Ron stumbled back. "Snatchers! RUN!" he screamed, bounding down the sand. He had nearly reached us by the time we had processed what was happening. The four of us took off down the beach, running with all our might. I turned back to see six dark figures fast approaching. I pushed my body to run faster. "Expelliarmus!" Hermione pointed her wand back without looking. Miraculously it hit one of the people chasing us, their wand flipping in the air above us. "Stupefy!" I cried, also not looking back. I heard a body hit the sand. We kept running. Harry twisted his body periodically to cast silent charms. The speed that we were running made it difficult for him to make a connection every time. We ran for what felt like miles. My lungs and legs were burning with exhaustion. I could tell the others were getting tired too, but we all pushed ourselves to keep going, to keep from getting caught by the snatchers.

We ran along the coastline, randomly yelling out spells to keep the snatchers at bay. We noticed we were getting farther away from them, and Hermione called out triumphantly, "We're losing them!" Out of nowhere a body, fully clad in black, flew up from behind a large rock and grabbed her. Ron, Harry and I froze when we realized we had been chased into a group of snatchers; 8 in all. Hermione tried to fight her way out of the snatcher's arms, but his strength combined with her exhaustion from running made the effort futile. Ron tried to fight the man off of her. "Let my girlfriend go!" he screamed, clawing at the man's arms. Harry and I were about to help Ron when 4 more snatchers stepped out of the shadows and lunged for us.

We were caught.

The snatchers disapparated with us to a large, old looking Victorian house. We were dragged kicking and screaming through the door into the foyer. The men threw us down in a heap in the center of the room. I pulled myself up to my knees and looked around at the others. Though tired from the run and the fight against the snatchers, everyone seemed alright. A woman entered the room. She had wild curly hair and a crazed look in her eyes. "Harry Potter and friends.. How lovely," she sneered. She stopped to look me over. "And who is this young lady? I thought you travelled as a trio," she spoke to no one in particular. "Stand up! Drop your wands!" she bellowed suddenly. The four of us stood and let our wands clatter to the floor. An old, hunched over man, a servant I presumed, scurried over to take our wands. "Now," said the woman, coming to stand directly in front of me, "I feel as though you are familiar to me, but I do not know why. Tell me, what is your name?" I stole a quick glance at Harry, unsure whether I should tell her the truth or give her a fake name. He mouthed, "Tell her the truth," to me before I felt a hand smack my face. I winced and brought my hand up to my cheek. "Answer me!" she commanded. "Ariel McGregor," I replied. The few others milling around the room stopped in their tracks. "YOU are Ariel McGregor? The Girl Who Lived?" she squeaked out. She took a deep breath to compose herself. With one swift move, she pulled my hair back and forced my head to the side to look at my scar. "Ha! So she is!," she cackled. She turned to the servant who had picked up our wands. "Run, go get Luc-" Before she had finished the sentence, I managed to slip my hand down in my bag and pull out the extra wand Bambino had given me. "Stupefy!" The woman was knocked on her back. The four of us took off towards the door. A young man's voice broke through the mayhem. "Crucio!" I heard him yell before I dropped to the ground in agonizing pain. I writhed on the floor screaming, unable to form words. I felt someone rip the wand out of my hand. The pain had begun to lessen, and then it came back ten times stronger; I thought I was going to black out. I couldn't even tell if I was screaming anymore. I felt someone kneel down beside me. I didn't have to open my eyes to know that it was Harry. "Malfoy you get away from her!" Harry screamed at him. I felt the pain begin to subside. I gasped for air, as Harry held me close and tried to comfort me. "Ah, the Boy Who Lived and the Girl Who Lived, a happy couple," I heard the woman say. "Lock them up Draco," she said with a laugh. "Actually, just the boys. I want to have a little girl talk with the ladies," she had a wild look in her eye. Hermione and I shot each other a worried glance. The boys were ripped away from us and taken down a set of stairs, out of sight. The crazy lady flicked her wrist, motioning for the boy who sent the Cruciatus curse on me to grab me. He roughly pinned my arms behind my back and tied my wrists together. The lady had thrown Hermione down on the floor. She withdrew a knife from her cloak and held it up to the light, letting the chandelier light bounce off of it. I watched in horror as she brought it down to Hermione, pulling the sleeve of her jacket up to expose the pale flesh of her arm. Slowly she dragged the knife through her skin over and over. "Hermione!" I cried out between sobs, but she couldn't hear me because she was screaming so loud. Off in the distance I heard a deep voice bellowing her name - Ron. I cried hard as I watched my friend be tortured, I was helpless to do anything. I tried to get away from the blond haired boy, but his hold was strong. After what seemed like hours of screaming, she kicked Hermione in the side and motioned for the boy to bring me over. "I'm done with this filthy mudblood, take her to the dungeons with the others." The boy shoved me to the woman and dragged Hermione away. She no longer screamed; silent tears rolled down her face. The lady grabbed me fiercely and slammed me to the ground. I could only imagine what she would do with me. She ran the smooth edge of the blade against my cheek. "I think you need a scar on the other side of your neck to match the one here," she sneered. She forced my head to the side and carved a lightning bolt into my neck. The pain was unbearable, and I screamed. "Ariel! Ariel!" I could hear Harry yelled. I concentrated on his voice as I continued to be tortured. I'm not even sure if I remained conscious for everything, but I held onto his voice. 'I have to see Harry again, I have to see Ron, I have to see Hermione, I have to know they are okay' I repeated in my head over and over. The next thing I knew it was over, and I was being thrown like a ragdoll into a cell in the dungeon. I felt myself land on another body. The feminine "ooof!" I heard let me know that it was Hermione I had been thrown on. "Ariel! Ariel!" I heard Harry calling to me. I fought through the dull ache in my head to focus in the dark on the cell across from me, which held Ron and Harry. "Did she hurt you?" he said, his voice filled with pain. I still couldn't speak. Hot tears poured from my eyes. "Ariel," Harry sobbed. I felt Hermione come to sit next to me, and she wrapped her uncut arm around me. I laid my head on her shoulder and we cried together, listening to the sobs of the boys across the hall in their cell. I wanted badly to be able to touch Harry, to kiss him, to feel his arms around me, to have him tell me everything was going to be okay, but there was no way to get to him.

After my tears ran out, I sat in silence for hours. No one tried to speak to one another anymore, none of us had the strength to form words after what we had been through. Hermione and I leaned on each other, holding hands in an effort to keep each other sane. A loud crack brought me out of my trance I had been in. "Dobby!" I heard Ron say in astonishment. "You can apparate in and out of the Malfoy Manor?" Harry asked. I strained to see what was going on, but the boys were in the back of their cell where the torches light didn't reach. I shook Hermione, who had drifted off into a troubled sleep. She woke up with a troubled look on her face but it quickly changed when she heard the voice talking with Ron and Harry. "Yes, Dobby can apparate anywhere, I am an elf!" "Dobby?" Hermione's voice cracked. "Miss Granger, why are you here in the Malfoy's dungeon?" the elf asked innocently. "Dobby you have to get us out of here! And we need our wands!" Hermione exclaimed. "These wands?" he replied, holding up 5 wands; our 4 originals plus my extra. "Yes! Those! Oh thank you Dobby!" she cried. "Dobby will take Mister Potter and Mister Weasley wherever they want to go, and then Dobby will come back for Miss Granger and her quiet friend," the elf said. With a crack, the boys disappeared. Hermione and I scrambled to get everything back in our bags so we could apparate quickly out of our cell. Dobby came back seconds later. Without a word, he grabbed mine and Hermione's hands. He gave me a smile and we were whisked away. We arrived at our destination a moment later. As soon as Dobby let go of my hand I was crushed into a hug. "Oh Godric Ariel, what did she do to you? I couldn't.. I wanted to.." Harry couldn't finish his sentence because he was crying again. I was crying again too; from relief. The cut on my neck stung, and I could feel the lacerations on my arm throbbing, but the pain was dwarfed by the feeling of Harry's arms around me.

I heard Ron clear his throat and Harry and I broke apart. We turned to look at him and Hermione, who were holding hands. A few stray tears fell from Hermione's eyes. I could tell Ron wanted to be alone with her, to assess the damage. "Let's all go to bed. We can regroup in the morning," Harry said, sensing the same thing I had. The others nodded and led the way down the long hallway to a set of stairs, which we climbed. Hermione and Ron shut themselves into a room at the top of the stairs, and Harry led me a few doors down to another bedroom. "What is this place?" I asked, looking around. "This is Grimmauld Place. This was my godfather's house before he passed away a few years ago. It also used to be the headquarters for the Order," Harry replied, sitting next to me. "The Order?" I repeated. "The Order of the Phoenix," he explained. "Basically a secret society who was teamed up to fight dark magic and Voldemort. The Order doesn't use this location anymore because we've lost Sirius, and a few other members, and it's easier to meet in random locations every time." I nodded. He shut the bedroom door behind us as I set my bag on top of the dresser. I looked around the dimly lit room. It looked as though no one had been here in a while. The room was huge. It contained a dresser, an armoire, a love seat, two bookcases, and a gigantic four poster bed. "This was mine and Ron's room during the summer I stayed here when I was 15," Harry said, coming up behind me. "Before you ask, Ron and I traded off between the couch and the bed." I tried to laugh, but the only thing I could muster was a half-smile.

I took off my jacket and sat gingerly on the bed. My whole body was sore, and my the cut on my neck was crusted with blood. I had put my hand on it absentmindedly as I stared at the floor. I felt the mattress sag as Harry sat next to me. He gently pulled my hand away from my neck. He gasped when he saw what had been done. I looked away, ashamed. His eyes filled with tears. "I swear to Godric, if I ever see that woman again she is dead! Same for that Malfoy git. I let them hurt you! I can't.." he trailed off. He went to grab my hand, brushing against my arm on accident. I winced at his touch. "What's wrong? Are you hurt somewhere else?" he said as be pulled my arm to him carefully. He slowly pulled my sleeve up to reveal the words "filthy half-blood" carved into my arm. I looked away so he wouldn't see me cry again. The tears escaped his eyes, and moments later we were both sobbing. Harry held me as I cried into his chest over everything; me being tortured, our friend being tortured, the war, Voldemort, everything.

After a long while, the tears ran out and we decided to try to get some sleep. Harry put some dittany on my arm and neck and pulled out sleep clothes for the both of us from my bag. When I gave him a questioning look, he responded, "I had Hermione put my things in your bag since we're.." I nodded. Harry changed quickly and then helped me change my clothes, stuffing our dirty, bloody clothes into a compartment in my bag. We laid down together, completely intertwining ourselves. I felt him kiss me on the forehead before sleep claimed me for the night.


	6. Hogwarts

Although it had been early in the evening when we went to bed, we ended up sleeping all night. We awoke to the sun peeking through the curtains behind the love seat. Harry unwound himself from me, threw back the covers, and stood up to stretched. He shuffled over to the love seat, leaning over it to open the curtains fully. Sunlight poured into the room. I could see the dust particles floating around him as he looked out the window. He turned around so he was facing me. "How are you this morning?" he asked, walking back to the bed. "I'm… alright. Every muscle in my body hurts, but I think it might just be from not moving all night." I stood and attempted to stretch, but the pain was too much. Harry handed me my bag and urged me to go take a shower. After he showed me the bathroom, I turned on the hot water and stepped in after letting my clothes fall to the floor. The water loosened up my muscles, and by the end of the shower I was able to function relatively normally. I dressed quickly and headed back downstairs, finding the kitchen just off the hallway we were in last night. Hermione and Ron were already in there, sitting down. A pot of coffee sat on the table, along with mugs for everyone. I sat down and poured myself a cup. I looked across the table at Ron and Hermione, who were holding hands and stealing glances at one another. I felt my heart squeeze as I watched them together, the perfect picture of true love. Harry came in a few moments later and sat beside me, pouring himself some coffee. We sat in silence looking at each other for a few moments.

"We'll apparate to the grounds where the train usually drops students off. I've sent an owl to Professor McGonagall, she'll be waiting for us there," Hermione said without looking at anyone. She sniffled, which caused us to look at her. "I'm scared," she admitted, letting out a sob. Ron wrapped his arms around her as she cried. "We're all scared, Hermione," he whispered. I felt Harry slip his arm around me and pull me tight to him; I laid my head on his shoulder.

15 minutes later we stood together in the long hallway by the front door. We formed a circle and joined hands. We looked at each other for a moment before we were whisked away. When we landed on the train platform at Hogwarts, the sight took my breath away. From what the others had told me, I had imagined Hogwarts to be a huge gothic cathedral of sheer beauty. While Hogwarts did match the description I was given, I did not expect to see it on fire already. The dark mark hung in the air over top of the highest tower. An older lady in a long black robe came rushing to us through the front gate. "Miss Granger! Mister Weasley!" She scooped them into a hug. When she let go she realized they were holding hands. "I'm so glad you two have finally found one another," she said warmly, but her smile didn't reach her eyes. "And Mister Potter.." I let go of his hand so he could hug the woman. She turned to me. "You must be Ariel. I'm Minerva McGonagall," she extended her hand. I shook it. "It's nice to meet you Professor," I replied. Harry took my hand again. A sad smile crept across the professors face. Suddenly she remembered the task at hand. "There are death eaters all over the grounds. Dementors. It's chaos. All of the Order is here, many former students and their families. I've got to go help Madame Pomfrey in the infirmary before I get back to fighting!" She took off towards the castle. The four of us made our way up to the building slowly. As we got closer we could see people battling. I spotted the woman from when we were captured. She was fighting two people; a girl around my age and an older woman who looked similar to her. They both had familiar red hair and pale skin. I saw Ron take off running towards them. "Mum! Ginny!" He dodged a curse thrown at him. "RON!" Hermione screamed, running off behind him. Before I could even think of what to do next, I felt someone grab the back of my jacket and start pulling me away from Harry. "Let go of me!" I thrashed around as they dragged me across the school grounds. I heard Harry's voice, "Stupefy!" I felt the person holding me crumple to the ground. Harry grabbed my hand to pull me up and we took off running into the school. Inside was worse than outside. There were people everywhere, hurt, maybe dead. I didn't know any of the people we saw but I couldn't help the tears that gathered in my eyes. It seemed as if we were too late. Hermione and Ron were nowhere to be found, and I hoped with all my might that they had not met the fate some of their classmates had. We ran until we were in an empty part of the castle. The long winding hallway we were in was dark and seemingly endless. The few torches that burned didn't give off enough light for us to see very far in front of us. Then, something happened.

One minute I was hand in hand with Harry navigating through the school he grew up in, and the next I was on my knees clutching my scar as flashes of scenes played before my eyes. A locket being cut in half by Ron, a cup being stabbed by a basilisk fang by Hermione, the crown being stabbed by Harry, a diary being stabbed by Harry, a ring being destroyed by Dumbledore, a large snake, Harry, and myself. I saw these in rapid succession, accompanied by the unmistakable parseltongue language spoken by Voldemort himself. The vision was over as soon as it began. I felt Harry pulling me to my feet. The look in his eyes confirmed what I feared. The vision we had both seen showed us each horcrux and the way it was destroyed. The only things that we hadn't seen being destroyed were a snake… and ourselves. We were the final two horcruxes, and we would have to be destroyed for Voldemort to be destroyed. I began to silently cry at the realization. Harry, remaining strong, guided me back through the castle to look for Hermione and Ron. We found them on a staircase, talking strategy and holding hands. They stood up when they saw us approach, and their expressions became concerned when they saw I had been crying. "What is it?" Ron asked. "The horcruxes.. we know what the last ones are. There are three left," Harry said. "What are they? We'll help you find them and destroy them!" said Hermione enthusiastically. "One is Voldemort's snake, Nagini," I said. "And? The others?" Ron pressed. Harry tried to speak, but his voice faltered, "The others…" He looked at the ground. Hermione caught on first. "It's the two of you isn't it?" she asked, barely above a whisper. Tears spilled down my face as I nodded. "No, no, no," Ron repeated over and over. Hermione flung herself at Harry and I, hugging us fiercely. When she pulled away, Harry wiped the tears from his cheeks. "We have to go to the Forbidden Forest now. I love you two, like you were my own siblings. Take care of each other when I'm gone," Harry said sadly. Ron crushed Harry into a hug at that moment, mumbling words to him that I could not hear. The emotion behind the hug brought on a fresh wave of tears, and Hermione hugged me again. "Ariel we haven't been friends for long but I will always remember you, you brought the real Harry back to us, and I'll always be thankful for that," she said to me. Unable to respond in words, I simply nodded. Ron gave me a tight hug, whispering "Stay with him always," to me before releasing me back to Harry. With that, we left the castle, heading for the forest.

We ran into a huge man when we were running over the grounds. Literally, a giant. "Harry!" the man said, pulling Harry into a hug. "Hagrid!" he replied excitedly. "Who's yer friend Harry?" the giant man asked as he looked me over. "This is Ariel. The Girl Who Lived," Harry explained. The giant shook my hand. "So nice to meet the Girl Who Lived. Too bad it's under such unfortunate circumstances," I nodded in agreement as he let go of the handshake. "Hagrid, we're heading into the forest. We have to go." Hagrid sucked in a breath. "Harry! I can't let you two fight You Know Who by yourselves!" "We're going Hagrid." Harry said fiercely. Hagrid looked defeated. Harry took my hand and turned. We took a step or two before Hagrid stopped us, putting a hand on each of our shoulders. "Good luck," he said, a tear rolling down his cheek. "Thank you Hagrid," Harry said quietly. We took off again; somehow we managed to get through the grounds and to the outskirts of the forest unscathed. We entered the forest, Harry leading the way because he had been in it before. It became dark fast. "Lumos," we said simultaneously. Although the light helped, the deeper we trudged into the forest, the less light there was. Before long, we could see a green glow ahead in what looked like a clearing. The trees began getting closer together, so Harry and I could no longer walk together. He went in front of me, guiding us over fallen trees, between low hanging branches. He pulled something out of his pocket, staring at it for a moment. "Is that a snitch?" I whispered. "Yeah.." he trailed off, holding the snitch up to his mouth. "I'm ready to die," he mumbled. The snitch opened a moment later, and a small pointy object floated out of the snitch and into Harry's hand. He examined it for a moment before turning to me. "It's the resurrection stone," he said. My eye grew wide as he closed his palm around it. Four figures emerged from the trees, three males and one female. I heard his breathing hitch as the figures got close enough for us to make out their features. I didn't have any idea who they were. Harry stepped forward, reaching out to the female. "Mum," he whispered, and it hit me. This woman and one of these men were his parents. His parents who had been dead for 16 years. His parents who he had never known, who had never been able to teach him about magic, and share stories about Hogwarts. I wanted to cry for him. "Ariel, I want to introduce you," Harry reached back for my hand. I took it and stepped forward to stand beside him. "This is my mother, Lily," he gestured towards the woman. Her eyes sparkled green, just like her son's. She gave me a warm smile. "This is my father, James," he pointed to a man with black hair and glasses, "This is Sirius Black, my godfather, Grimmauld Place was his house," I nodded in understanding as he turned me towards a man with chin length wavy hair and a large mustache, "and this is Remus Lupin, a former professor here and a great friend of my dad and Sirius." "It's so nice to meet all of you, I've heard great things about each one of you," I said once introductions were over. "Does dying hurt?" Harry asked suddenly, turning to Sirius. "No more than going to sleep," he replied reassuringly. "Will you stay with me?" he asked, turning to everyone. "Always," said Lily. "Until the end," added James. Remus nodded in agreement. Harry nodded, then turned to me. He took both of my hands. I could feel the others eyes upon me. "Will you stay with me?" he whispered. "Harry I would never leave you," I replied, a tear spilling down my cheek. He let go of my hands to take my face in his hands. He wiped the tears away from my eyes with his thumbs and leaned in to kiss me softly. When he pulled away his eyes were wet. "Ariel, take care of our son. He needs you," Lily said when we broke apart. "We have to go now son, be brave," said James as the figures began to fade. "We all love you Harry," said Remus. "Goodbye," the four of them whispered simultaneously. They disappeared a moment later. Harry wiped the tears from his eyes. He took a long, slow, breath and let it out. "Let's do this," he said, determined.

The physicality of our hike to the clearing left us winded. When we reached the edge of the clearing, we stopped to examine what was going on. There were probably 20 people standing in a circle around Voldemort, who was floating a few feet above the ground with his wand in the air. I shifted my weight to my other foot and a branch cracked. Every single head in the clearing turned to us. Voldemort lowered himself to the ground and parted the circle to walk towards us. Harry stepped into the clearing first, and I followed suit. Voldemort stopped when he was about 10 feet away. He smiled evilly. "The children who lived, here at the same time. A dream come true." The others in the field murmured to each other. "Expelliarmus," Voldemort said suddenly. Helplessly our wands flew from our hands and into his. I looked at Harry, hoping he would know what to do. Sheer determination covered his face. Voldemort spoke again. "Potter, always the hero. What will you do now? How will you elude me this time? Oh.." he paused thoughtfully. He held up our wands, looking at them theatrically. "You won't." We stood frozen to our spot by the trees. He tucked his wand away in his robe. He now held a wand in each hand; Harry's in his left, mine in his right. he raised them both slowly. "Once you two die, no one else will have to. Or would you like to hold off your deaths?" "We're right here Tom what are you waiting for?" Harry shouted angrily. Tears rolled down my face as I waited for the impending doom. Voldemort tilted his head back and laughed loudly. Harry took my hand and stood beside me. Voldemort aimed a wand at each of us. I braced myself for impact. I felt Harry tighten his grip on my hand, and as I turned to look at him, my eyes filled with tears. Tears were already streaming down his face; it hurt so much to think this would be the last time I would ever see him. "Ariel," he whispered hoarsely. Just hearing him say my name made me lose control; the tears flowed freely down my face now. "I love you. I love you so much," he said as he tried to wipe the tears from his face. "I love you too Harry!" I sobbed.

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort shouted, and two dark green lights shot out of the wands. Everything went black.


	7. At Last

Suddenly, Harry and I were surrounded by whiteness. I nearly had to squint at how bright it was. We walked back and forth, trying to make out where we were. "Do you have any idea where we are?" I asked Harry. A deep, smooth voice answered me from behind. "You are at King's Cross." I turned to the source of the voice. An old wizard with long hair and a long beard stood near one of the gleaming white benches. Dumbledore. "Ariel, so nice to see you again. I see you've found Harry," he smiled. Farther away, Harry was looking at something under another bench. Dumbledore walked over to Harry. "This is another piece of Voldemort's soul come to die," he said simply. Harry looked at Dumbledore. "How do you know Ariel?" he asked. "I have been to her school in the U.S. I met her there. Of course, the whole school was buzzing about the girl who lived. The boy who lived was all the way in Scotland at Hogwarts," he replied with a laugh. Harry cracked a smile. Dumbledore motioned for me to come to them. He put an arm around each of us. "You two have a choice," he began. "We do?" Harry interjected. Dumbledore nodded. "If you two decide to, you can board a train right now." "Where will it take us?" Harry asked. "On!" said Dumbledore. "You can also choose to go back. You will be hurt, yes, but you can live. The pain of the spell will only last a short time," he finished reassuringly. Harry stepped up beside me and grabbed my hand. "I want to go back," he said gently. "We need to finish what we started. "Let's go Harry," I said. I squeezed his hand.

We were back in the woods, in the clearing. I could hear voices around us, but couldn't bring myself to move. "Are they dead, my lord?" a woman's voice asked. "Narcissa, go check!" Voldemort ordered. A moment later, I felt a woman hovering over me. I desperately wanted to reach out and find Harry,to make sure he was okay, but pain racked my body, making it still impossible to move. I felt the woman get farther away. "Dead, my lord," she confirmed. "Let the beast carry them to Hogwarts to show the others," he snapped. I heard a loud, obnoxious sob. "Little Harry, sweet Ariel," a familiar voice whispered as they picked us up, throwing us each over a shoulder. Hagrid. I felt myself bounce lifelessly on his shoulder for a long while as he carried Harry and I out of the woods and up to the school. I assumed we were there when Hagrid stopped walking and I heard a crowd of people gasp. I picked out a specific voice from the crowd. "Ron, tell me Hagrid's not carrying who I think he's carrying. Please Ron, tell me it's not them," Hermione said desperately. "Hermione..." Ron's voice cracked as he said her name. He let loose a low sob. "No!" Hermione screamed. Her word seemed to echo. Voldemort began to speak. "Yes, both are dead. I have done it! And I have brought them here so you can watch my beloved Nagini swallow them hole," he said with a sneer. I heard the snake slither away from him. At that moment I felt Harry grab my hand and shake it subtly. I barely turned my head to look at him, so as not to alert the others. He mouthed to me, "We are going to jump down on three. One, two, three." We pushed off Hagrid's shoulders and dropped to the ground. Many people screamed. A loud bellow came from behind us. We turned around in time to see a boy emerge from the crowd wielding a sword. With one swift move, he took the head of the snake off, which, until now, I had not noticed had maneuvered itself dangerously close to Harry and I. My eyes grew wide as I heard Voldemort screech in pain. He began to break to pieces; crumbling in his robes. The pieces of his body floated away into the sky. The remaining death eaters began to run, and the rest of the witches and wizards present began to cheer. Harry and I, still dazed from what happened, were attacked and crushed into a hug my Ron and Hermione, and then the rest of the Weasley family. Tears flowed freely down everyone's faces. When everyone let us go, we wasted no time latching on to one another. My body shook with sobs of relief. Harry was almost hugging me too hard, but I couldn't complain, we were alive. I could feel myself soaking the shoulder of his jacket with my tears, but I knew he wouldn't mind. After a long time he released his grip on me, but only so he could cover my face and neck with wet, tearful kisses. Despite everything, I couldn't help but smile at his eagerness. He let me go a moment later, and I took a second to wipe the tears from my face as he did the same.

That night, after more hugs, tears, laughter, and the feeling of relief raging through us all evening, we all decided it was time to go to bed. Hermione offered to take Ron to the girls dormitory, so Harry led me up to the boys dormitory. He gave me a brief tour of the dorm before he showed me to his bed. We climbed in stiffly, feeling the effects of a long, physically demanding day. We curled up together, completely intertwined. "I meant what I said today in the woods Ariel," Harry whispered. I looked up at him. "I didn't just say it because I thought it we were going to die. I wanted to tell you before but I was nervous.." He placed a soft kiss on my lips. "I love you," he said, his voice low, full of emotion. "I love you too," I breathed, kissing him again. We drifted off to sleep then, holding each other close.

The next morning I awoke late. The sun was streaming in through the window by the bed. Harry was still sleeping. I propped myself up on my elbow so I could look at him. We had been so tired last night that he had forgotten to take his glasses off. We had both remained in the same sleeping position all night, so I wasn't surprised that they had stayed on. I reached over to lightly stroke his bruised jaw; his face was dirt streaked, and a few small cuts littered his cheeks. His hair was still slightly matted to his forehead. His eyes fluttered open a moment later. "Hey," he said, pushing himself up to kiss me. "Hey," I replied. He reached a hand up to pull something out of my hair; a piece of leaf, or a twig, I wasn't sure. I giggled. "We're a mess. Can you show me where I can shower?" I said as I threw back the covers. "Yeah, if I can get out of bed. I'm a little sore, believe it or not," Harry said with a humorous tone. I walked over to the mirror on the back of the door to examine the damage. My hair was full of dirt and other debris, I had a few small cuts on my face, and several bruises on my arms and legs. Harry walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. He planted a kiss on my neck. "I was so afraid I would never be able to do this again," he whispered in my ear. "Me too," I said. He removed his arms from my waist and took my hand. I grabbed my bag and we walked to the boys bathroom. Once inside, I saw that the bathroom was separated into two sections; one with sinks and mirrors, and another with private shower stalls. There was no one else in the bathroom. I chose the shower stall closest to me and went in. There was a small changing area with shelves and hooks, separated by a curtain from the shower itself, which was gigantic. I turned on the shower to let the water warm up. I undressed slowly, examining my body carefully for more cuts and contusions. There were many, but they would heal. I hung up the clothes I was going to put on after my shower and let my dirty clothes drop to the floor. I pulled back the curtain and stepped into the hot water. Instantly my skin was on fire, but not because the water was too hot. The cuts and scrapes that covered my body were finally being rinsed of the dirt that had caked them all day and night, and it STUNG. I gritted my teeth to keep from yelling out, and after a moment the initial sting began to subside. With my eyes closed, I stood still under the water, letting it beat down on me. I heard the shower curtain rustling and I opened my eyes to see Harry climbing in the shower with me. "Harry what are you doing? What if someone comes in?" I exclaimed. "We'll stay in here until they leave," he replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. I laughed. I moved so he could get into the shower stream, and he winced as the water hit him. "These damn cuts!" he said. "Yeah, I just went through that before you decided to jump in the shower with me," I replied. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back into the water. I couldn't help but think about how sensual he looked, the hot water rolling down his skin. I must've made some sort of noise, because he raised his head back up and looked at me. My breath quickened when I saw the look in his eye. Harry pushed me back against the shower wall and crushed his lips to mine. I lifted my hands to his wet hair, attaching them to the back of his head so he couldn't pull away from the kiss. I could feel him growing more turned on by the second. I moaned when he pressed his hips into mine. He pulled my hands out of his hair, breaking my weakening grip on him. He broke the kiss, only to move his lips to my neck and collarbone, where he lightly nipped at the wet flesh. I gasped at the sensation, feeling the arousal pool in between my legs. I gently pushed his shoulders down with my hands, and he spun us around under the water so his back was on the shower wall. Capturing my mouth into another kiss, he began lowering us down on to the shower floor, using the wall for support. Once he was sitting on the stall floor, I straddled his lap. I could feel his hardness brushing against my opening, but he didn't enter me yet. He lifted his hips to press it against me, and smirked when all I could do was pant and pull at his hair. At long last, he pushed into me, and I gasped loudly. I would never get used to how good that felt. We moved together slowly, feeling every inch of each other, our hands everywhere. It didn't take long for me to reach my peak, and I swore loudly when I came. Harry let out a low growl when he came a few moments later. I collapsed against his chest and we held each other as our breathing slowed. "Alright, I need to actually get up and shower now," said Harry, chuckling. I kissed him softly and stood up. "Me too," I replied. I reached out a hand to help him up. He stood up and pulled the curtain back, reaching for the towel he brought in with him. I watched him wrap it around his waist before he closed the curtain for me. I was reaching for my shampoo when I heard the curtain open again. I turned to see Harry peeking in. "I love you," he said smiling. "I love you too Harry," I whispered, returning the smile. "I'm going to shower for real this time," he said, closing the curtain for the final time. I laughed.

After a proper shower and breakfast, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I decided to walk around the grounds to examine the damage. The castle was a mess, the forest had been partially burned, the covered bridge collapsed, and the stone bridge was a pile of rubble, although still standing. We were standing on the stone bridge when Harry pulled something out of his pocket. "I've got the Elder wand," he said. Hermione gasped. "You have to get rid of it!" "Not bloody likely. He should keep it!" Ron retorted. "Hermione's right, you can't keep it," I added. Harry nodded. "I know." He held up the wand and snapped it half, then tossed it down into the river far below. "It's truly over," Harry said walking back toward us. He took the hand of Hermione's that wasn't occupied by Ron, and took my hand in his other. "And all is well."

**** Well there you have it! I was nervous about uploading since this was my first fanfic ever, but I've gotten such positive feedback! Thank you all so much, I appreciate it! I am currently working on another story, and I'm hoping I'll be able to post it soon, so if you liked The Two Who Lived, keep an eye out for more of my writing. ****


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